Police: Domestic issue spawned 2 large fights

SPRINGFIELD — One person was treated and taken to a hospital Thursday after the first of two fights that involved large groups of people.

Shortly after 1:30 p.m., Springfield police responded to a report of 20 to 30 people fighting near Southgate and Damascus avenues and that guns might be present.

As officers arrived, most of the crowd had dispersed. However, officers did find a female who had suffered a head injury.

Approximately an hour later, police were dispatched to Kentucky and Hensel avenues on a report of at least 20 people fighting. Police also were warned that one person recognized from the earlier incident with a gun was believed to be involved in the second fracas.

Most of the crowd had left the second scene by the time police arrived. Officers were questioning the people who remained.

According to the preliminary investigation gathered, police said both incident may stem from a domestic issue involving family members.

Sheriff uses game show-style ‘Wheel of Fugitives’ to catch criminals

A sheriff in Florida is using an unusal new weapon to catch criminals and says it's a success. A game show-style 'Wheel of Fugitives' is recorded and posted to Facebook every week.(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The Brevard County Sheriff’s office in central Florida is putting an unusual spin on the agency’s search for wanted criminals.

Using a game modeled on the big wheel in the long-running game show “Wheel of Fortune,” the office posts Facebook videos of its own version of the game called “Wheel of Fugitives.”

“It’s time for ‘Wheel of Fugitives,’ the game that fugitives hate and citizens love,” the department posted on its Facebook page to alert users that the game is about to begin.

Sheriff Wayne Ivey, the game’s version of Pat Sajak, said during interviews on the unusual law enforcement tool that officers have been using the game for the past 18 months to find and arrest many fugitives.

“When we put someone up on the ‘Wheel of Fugitive,’ our citizens start sending us messages and contacting us right away,” Ivey said in an interview with CBS News.

Here’s how it works. Ivey spins a wheel with the pictures of 10 wanted criminals attached to it. Whichever photo the wheel lands on is declared the unlucky “winner” and is the person the department will search for with help from all the Facebook users who watch the video.

Dedré Jefferson and her mother, Ella Jefferson, were worried about Blake Jefferson, a 22-year-old student at Texas Southern University, according to police. ABC 13 in Houston reported that Blake had begun having “spiritual visions” and, on a recent Sunday, ran into a local church and interrupted services to tell the congregation about those visions.

Dedré Jefferson, a former longtime teacher who last year was elected to the Alief ISD’s board of trustees, had made an appointment for her son to talk to someone about his mental health on Friday, a family friend told the news station.

That appointment came too late.

The Houston Chronicle reported that Ella Jefferson, 73, got a phone call around 2 a.m. Friday from her 48-year-old daughter, who told her that Blake Jefferson was acting strange. She said she thought her son had taken some pills.

Ella Jefferson told her daughter to run away and find help.

“I can’t. He’s stabbing me,” Dedré Jefferson told her mother just before the phone went dead, the Chronicle reported.

Ella Jefferson called police and drove to the townhouse that her daughter and grandson shared. She also called the family’s minister, Gregg Patrick, who met her in front of the home.

Blake Jefferson was arrested for murder a short time later in a neighboring townhouse after breaking into the unit and hiding in a closet, the Chronicle said.

Family and friends are left trying to figure out why the young man, who had no criminal record, attacked his mother.

“At this point, we have no idea what the argument was, or if there was even an argument,” Harris County sheriff’s Sgt. Ben Beall told the Chronicle.

KHOU reported that Blake Jefferson sobbed loudly Monday morning during a brief court appearance in his case. He is being held without bond in the Harris County jail.

A candlelight vigil was held Monday night to remember Dedré Jefferson, who Alief ISD Superintendent H.D. Chambers described as a “proud Alief ISD graduate, former employee and current board member.”

School board members also released a statement in which they said they are “devastated by the tragic loss” of their friend and colleague.

“You will not find a bigger advocate for public education than Dedré Jefferson,” the statement read. “She made a lasting impression on everyone she met in the community. Her impact will be felt for a very long time in Alief. She will be missed by many.”

Jefferson’s funeral is set for Thursday.

Fort Recovery teacher guilty of sexual battery

CELINA — After emotional testimony from the victim in day two of the trial of a former Fort Recovery teacher charged with sexual battery, the defendant changed his plea as part of a deal with the prosecutor.

Christopher Summers, 33, pleaded guilty to eight counts of sexual battery by a teacher or other person in authority serving in a school, according to proceedings today in Mercer County Common Pleas Court.

Summers was initially facing 47 felony counts, including two counts of rape, involving a student at Fort Recovery High School.

The victim, a 19-year-old Fort Recovery graduate, testified that Summers sexually assaulted her multiple times when she was a 16-year-old student.

Others who testified for the prosecution included a coach, former baseball player and a principal.

Summers faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison for each count, according to Mercer County Prosecutor Matthew K. Fox.

Fox said there’s a pending case against Summers in Darke County involving the same victim.

“I’m proud of the job the victim did today. She’s an amazing young lady,” Fox said.

Summers remains on house arrest. He is scheduled to be sentenced in Mercer County next month.

Ft. Recovery teacher gets more prison time for student sex

DARKE COUNTY — A former Fort Recovery teacher was given another year in prison today after already getting 20 years in a sex case involving his student.

Christopher Summers, 33, will serve 21 years total for a relationship he had with a 16-year-old. In Darke County Common Pleas Court today, he was given one year on a count of sexual battery.

He faced up to five years on the charge.

Summers apologized today in court, telling the victim, the victim's family and his wife that he is remorseful.

The victim's testimony during the trial revealed a pattern by Summers of manipulation punctuated with sexual, physical and mental abuse and nearly 1,000 phone calls and text messages all hours of the day and night.

The victim, now 19, and her mother gave statements in court, as did Summers and his wife.

"I'm so sorry for what I did to her," Summers said. "She's entirely blameless, I'm not the monster they've tried to make me out to be."

His wife, Laurie Summers, spoke in support of her husband of eight years.

"I am completely convinced that Chris will never put himself in a position where this could happen again," she said. "If I thought there was even the slightest chance that this would happen again I would not be standing by Chris."

The victim's mother said the defendant can't be trusted "outside of a locked facility."

The victim said she has "much to say," but not the words nor "strength to put myself through it again."

"I will be forever changed by what Mr. Summers did to me. As time goes on I will be able to deal more and more, but the hurt will always be there," she said.

Summers will have to register as a tier III sex offender for the rest of his life.